Please Peezy, Don’t Hurt ‘Em

by John Cihon

Yeah, Joey Porter’s mouth wrote a lot of checks his body couldn’t cash last year. Yeah, he got a lot of stupid penalties last year. Yeah, he would have wanted a lot more money than he was worth and may not have gotten along well with Tomlin if he stayed. Yeah, he picked a stupid fight in a casino (and by the way, why do they say, ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ when all the casinos are filled top to bottom with video cameras?). And we can’t forget that he fed his dogs his neighbor’s miniature horsey. All in all, Joey Porter has never given me any reason to believe that he’s not psychotic.

But he deserved a lot better than the smattering of boos some fans saw fit to give him on Monday night when he was honored with the Steelers all-time team. You guys voted him onto the team, so why did you boo him? We shouldn’t forget, he didn’t voluntarily leave the Steelers, and the fact that he participated in the salute on Monday night shows that he left at least a little bit of his heart in Pittsburgh. As a matter of fact, although I am sure Porter doesn’t mind the money that Miami is giving him, he’s a competitor to the core, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’d be a lot happier if he was still playing in Pittsburgh for less money right now.

His play over his tenure with the Steelers (particularly in the Super Bowl season) earned him his spot on the all-time team, and the least you could do is applaud him for everything he has meant to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And if we miss Peezy for nothing else, if the man was still here and running his mouth, this blog would practically write itself.